Saint-Pierre Fenouillet
During the early Middle Ages, Saint-Pierre Fenouillet castle
was a centre for the Cathars and, like Montsegur,
Puilaurens and Queribus, served as a refuge
for the faydits in the last days of the wars.
The district of Fenouillides (Fenolheda),
in which the castle stands, was first mentioned in 842 when King
Charles le Chauve of the Franks (840-77) gave it to one Milo.
It is assumed that Milo's successors, the counts of Razes, were
pressurised by the counts of Carcassonne.
By the late ninth century the district was held by the house of
Cerdanya, the lords of Fenouillet castle. The family of the
counts of Cerdanya became divided into the counts of Cerdanya and
Besalu, with Fenouillet passing to the latter under their own
viscounts, the first known of whom was Peter (Petroni), mentioned
in February of 1017. In 1109 war came to the district as the
count of Besalu had bequeathed his lands to the count of
Barcelona. However, the count of Cerdanya claimed the
Fenouilledes and besieged the castles. Viscount William Peter
Fenouillet eventually paid him tribute for his castle and its
tributary, Castle Sabarda. In 1111 the situation was reversed
with William Peter paying homage again to the count of
Barcelona. On 5 July 1173, his descendant, Arnaud the son of
Udalgar Fenouillet, wrote his will. In it he left his nephew,
Berenger Corbieres, his lands, as well as to his 4 sisters, a share of
the castles of Fenouillet, Albières (Albedu), Tournel (Talteul) and St
Stephen of Bilerag.
All were to be held under Viscont Ermene of Narbonne. It
would appear that this will was never enforced because Arnaud
subsequently had a daughter, Ava Fenouillet, who married Bertrand
Saissac (bef.1170-1209+) and took both the castle with the title of viscount Fenouillet
to Saissac.
Viscount Bertrand Saissac of Fenouillet was one of the major vassals of
Carcassonne and
supported his lord against the Crusaders from 1209. After the fall of Carcassonne in 1209 and then Toulouse in 1215,
Fenouillet became a refuge for Cathars, as did the castles of Aguilar,
Montsegur, Peyrepertuse, Puilaurens and Quéribus.
Consequently, Peter Saissac (d.1243), the son of Bernard and Ava, was deprived of his
possessions in Narbonne in 1222, although he later helped to crush the
army of Amaury, son of Simon Montfort. As a result King Louis
VIII of France invaded in 1226 and gave Fenouillet castle to Count
Nunyo Sancho of Roussillon. Peter continued his war to regain
Fenouillet, but was forced to admit defeat by the treaty of Paris/Meaux in
1229. Recognising the inevitable he sold Fenouillet with its
castle to Nunyo in recognition of the ‘extensive damage and
harm' he had done in Roussillon. In this his mother, Ava
Fenouillet, joined with him. Despite this agreement, Peter
reopened the war with attacks on Fenouillet in 1236, 1240 and 1242, all
of which failed. Although still only in his 40s, Peter
withdrew to the Templar Commandery at Mas Deu (east of the town of
Trouillas in the eastern Pyrenees) and died in
1243, leaving a son, Hugh Saissac (d.1262+).
Despite the loss of Fenouillet castle to France in 1229, Cathars
continued to live in the district. Inquisitorial registers
record several witnesses identifying heretical groups even in the
castle after 1240. In 1244, Imbert Salles, a survivor of
Montsegur stated,
I saw at Fenouillet, in the house of Bernard Vivier, the 'parfaites'
Marquèse et Prima... Bernard Vivier and his mother, whose
name a do not know, and Raymond Marti of Fenouillet.
Also recorded were the statements that the brothers Arnaud and Beranger
were the Vivier lords of a nearby castle (Coustaussa) and had a house in
Fenouillet castle. They were repeatedly noted in the company
of heretics at Montsegur castle before the siege of 1243.
Support for the Cathars continued in the district and in 1246 Peter
Paraire of Queribus was noted as Cathar deacon of the
Fenouilledes. Cathar resistence to the Catholics in the area
continued until the fall of Queribus in 1255 and beyond.
Indeed the granting of the area to King James of Aragon (d.1276) in
1257 would suggest they were looking for his protection. This
they didn't get and the next year the viscounty was awarded to King
Louis IX (d.1270) as part of the treaty of Corbeil. Hugh
Saissac unsuccessfully contested the disinheritance of his family in
1262.
Fenouillet remained a royal fortress for the rest of its useful
existence, while nearby Castel Fizel was first mentioned in 1260 and
Sabarda in the early twelfth century. Coins continued to be lost in the castle
during the fourteenth century, but the castle, of an obsolete design,
seems to have been gradually run down and dismantled. It has
been suggested that a ramp built against the keep door was made as an
aid to demolition. The abandonment of the castle led to the
increased importance of the smaller nearby castle of Sabarda which was
much more defensible with a much smaller royal garrison. St Paul de Fenouillet fell to the Spanish in 1625.
Description
The castle is protected on its E&W sides by high cliffs
and a steep drop to its north. To the east lay the vill and
the main entrance, the castle having three lines of defence in
all. First was a barbican entrance at the extreme SE end of
the site, the lowest section nearest the town. Above this was a small ward which stretched back to the NW, of which
foundations and a long rectangular tower remain to the SE. At
the west end a mostly buried square building shows traces of a postern
to the north.
The outer ward was commanded by the second line of defence which had a
small castelette to the SE. The central portion of the wall
is best preserved and is made of large, roughly squared blocks which
are
different to those in the rest of the walls. The base of a
gatehouse
also remains. Above this again was the main ward which consisted
of an apsed church
at the western end. East of this was the main ward with a
rectangular tower at the west end. Overlooking all was a long
rectangular keep with the thickest walls of the castle. Centrally
was a long barbican with fine yellow limestone quoins and 3
loops.
Excavations
Excavations carried on since 1994 have found ceramics, coins, bronze
and iron objects, food, coal and seeds, while studies of the excavated
charcoal found that in the first half of the thirteenth century there was a
change in vegetation indicating an increased population. It
seems likely that the residential areas were also extended at this
time. The defensive side of the fortress was also developed, the barbican being built on the site of the original gate
and lines of walled terracing were constructed to form a chicane.
Excavations in the large keep found evidence in the same time period
for intense aristocratic and military occupation. A large amount of
iron items, mostly crossbow related, were found amongst a unique set of
gilded bronze decorations for clothing or furniture, some with the
heraldic symbol for the Fenouillet family, viz. chequered gold and
blue. Many tokens were also discovered with heraldic
representations as well as food debris, mainly animal and fish bones.
Nearby are two other castles Sabarda and Castel-Fizel, protecting
access to the main castle.
Why not join me here and at other French
castles? Information on this and other tours can be found at Scholarly
Sojourns.
Copyright©2019
Paul Martin Remfry